How state rules work

Understand the three-tier rule model, how checks and severities drive compliance, and how AuditHalo keeps rules current and citation-grounded.

Last updated Sep 14, 2026

A rule is the machine-readable version of a state board's supervision requirements: the hours, ratios, deadlines, and conditions a pre-licensed counselor must meet. AuditHalo evaluates each supervisee's logged sessions against their assigned rule and turns the result into a clear compliance picture.

Every rule is grounded in a board citation and versioned, so you always know which requirements are being applied and where they came from.

The three tiers

AuditHalo uses three kinds of rules that layer together.

  1. Canonical rules. Board-verified rules that AuditHalo maintains for the states it covers. Each defines the required practice and supervision hours, durations, ratios, group limits, and a set of checks, with a citation to the state's administrative code. Only AuditHalo staff edit canonical rules.
  2. Org overrides. An HR admin can modify a canonical rule for their organization: tighten a requirement, adjust a check, or change a check's severity. Overrides show how many requirements were made tighter, looser, or removed.
  3. Custom rules. For a state AuditHalo does not yet cover, an HR admin can author a full rule from scratch, supplying the citation, structured requirements, and checks.

Note: AuditHalo covers ten states at launch. If your state is not covered, an HR admin on a Practice or Enterprise plan can create a custom rule. See Creating custom rules.

Checks and severity

A rule is made of checks, each testing one requirement, for example a supervision cadence, a total-hours target, or a required attestation. Every check carries a severity:

  • Info. Informational; does not affect risk on its own.
  • Warning. A gap that needs attention but is not yet disqualifying.
  • Blocker. A gap serious enough to put the supervisee at red risk.

When an HR admin overrides a canonical rule, severity can only be downgraded within the limits AuditHalo enforces, so an override cannot quietly weaken a board requirement past what is allowed.

How evaluation works

AuditHalo runs the rule's checks against the supervisee's logged and approved sessions and produces:

  • A risk level: green, yellow, or red.
  • Hour totals for practice and supervision.
  • Progress toward each requirement.
  • A list of gaps, each with a concrete next step.

For a supervisee on leave, cadence checks pause automatically so a documented leave does not register as a missed requirement.

Versions and staying current

Rules are versioned. When AuditHalo publishes a newer version of a canonical rule, a banner on the supervisee's detail page offers to upgrade the assignment to the new version. Keeping rules current is AuditHalo's core commitment, and citations are monitored for drift so a rule does not silently fall out of date.

[Screenshot: a supervisee detail page showing the assigned rule, its version, and a rule-update banner]

What's next

Related articles

Frequently asked questions

Which states does AuditHalo support?

Ten at launch: Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Washington. See the state coverage article for the license mapping.

What if my state is not covered?

An HR admin on a Practice or Enterprise plan can author a custom rule from the state's administrative code.

Can an organization change a state rule?

Yes. An HR admin can create an override to tighten a canonical rule, within the limits AuditHalo enforces. Severity can only be downgraded so far, so an override cannot weaken a board requirement past what is allowed.

How does AuditHalo keep rules current?

Rules are versioned and grounded in board citations, which are monitored for drift. When a board changes a requirement, a new version is published and offered as an upgrade.